Family Therapy Training: A Statewide Program for Mental Health Centers

This study presents the results of an evaluation of two cohorts of trainees who had completed a 2-year training program in family therapy. The 15 trainees were assessed in the areas of perceptual/conceptual, intervention/executive skills and personal development both pre- and post-training. Although the group results showed skill acquisition in all areas assessed, the individual results revealed a complexity in performance glossed over by the group analysis. Trainees' learning commenced from different baselines, advanced at different rates, and there was a marked discrepancy between self-reports of improvements (or otherwise) and the results of the observer-rated measures. We recommend that increasing attention be paid to individual differences in learning styles in training and in evaluation.

Section: Previous Evaluationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of Learning in Family Therapy Training

Perlesz¹,

Stolk²,

Firestone

1990

“…The critical emphases in an “experiential” training model are self‐awareness, personal growth, and understanding one's own family (10, 12, 13, 29, 47). The “competency‐based” model focuses on teaching specific, behaviorally based skills at different levels of training (9, 14, 18, 1, 20, 23, 32, 48). Finally, the “integrated” model focuses on teaching conceptual, behavioral, and personal relationship (experiential) skills (1, 28).…”

Section: Family Therapy Training Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Empirical Evaluation of Family Therapy Training

Tucker

Pinsof

1984

As the first substantive use of the FTCS, some useful information about the coding system emerged from this study. Its unitization and categorization reliability proved to be excellent. The results supported the discriminant validity of certain subscales, which confirmed predicted differences and distinguished trainees at varied levels of experience. In general, the continued use of the FTCS for the evaluation of therapy and training appears to be highly desirable. Three hypotheses were examined to account for the failure to find more significant training effects. The hypotheses are not mutually exclusive and seem quite plausible in light of the nature of the trainees and the two-year training program. The analysis of the second year of the program will, it is hoped, further illuminate our understanding of the current results.

“…Among them are concerns about the appropriateness of traditional research methods for evaluating relevant outcomes (9, 15, 16), a lack of specificity in framing training questions (17), and the absence of experimental control in training research. As a result, the positive impact of family therapy training that has been documented in the literature thus far is based largely on clinical impression (3, 12, 21), self‐report (13), or otherwise uncontrolled studies of changes that occur over the course of training (6, 22). It is noteworthy that even the recent work of Tucker and Pinsoff (23), which reports “the first comprehensive, systematic, and empirical study of a family therapy training program” (p. 439) was conducted without the benefit of a control group.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aponte and VanDeusen (2) cite only three studies designed to address issues related to training structural family therapists. Of these three studies, two (4, 13) reported the results of uncontrolled, post hoc evaluations of self‐report data. The third (18) presented a multimethod assessment of a one‐year training program within the context of a small sample (20 trainees, 5 control subjects).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of Structural Family Therapy Training on Conceptual and Executive Therapy Skills

Zaken-Greenberg

Neimeyer

1986

The importance of empirical evaluations of family therapy training is gaining increased recognition. This study reports the results of a controlled assessment of a training seminar in structural family therapy. Changes in the conceptual and executive skills of 44 therapy trainees (22 family trainees and 22 controls) were assessed over a 16-week period using repertory grid and videotaped therapy simulation techniques. Results indicated significant conceptual gains in family therapy trainees, but only among those with little previous exposure to family training. Differences in the overall number as well as the type of interventions were also noted. Results generally supported the predicted impact of therapy training, but left unanswered questions regarding the unique impact of family therapy training over individual training. These qualifications are discussed and directions for future work are highlighted.